


Love, How Does It Work?

by fopsyche94



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, child prodigy jongin, clueless sehun, kids!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 00:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15351909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fopsyche94/pseuds/fopsyche94
Summary: Jongin wants to make sense of love. He cannot.





	Love, How Does It Work?

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted from my LiveJournal account.

Among all the things his parents have taught him, Jongin thinks that they should have told him about the mechanism of love. At least it will be more useful to him than the Big Bang theory or the wonder of Fibonacci numbers. Maybe it will be able to explain all these weird feelings Jongin keeps experiencing around a  _certain_  guy, and help him controlling it.  
  
Right now, Jongin is sulking. He directs his pout at Sehun who is sitting  _way_  too cheerfully with Jinri. Once in a while, Sehun will look at Jongin and sends him a wide smile that turns his eyes into crescents. It makes Jongin’s heart thumping fast, but he is still mad at the boy. He had made sure that the seat next to him was vacant, hoping that Sehun would sit next to him during the entire bus ride to the museum. But no, Sehun just has to sit down beside that annoying Jinri. Jongin can’t decide whether he hates Sehun or Jinri more.  
  
The bus stops in front of the museum entrance. Everyone gets off from the bus; their faces are bright, except Jongin’s. Their teacher shouts over their excited voices, asking for them to gather around. Jongin stands behind, crosses his arms and pouts unsatisfied.  
  
“Everyone please listen to me,” Miss Kwon, their teacher, calls with a loud voice. “I want you to walk side by side with one of your classmates and line up orderly. Please, don’t separate from the group. Do you understand me, Class?”  
  
“Yes, Kwon-sonsaeng!” The kids scream in unison. Jongin cringes at the loud sound and rolls his eyes at his classmates’ childish acts. Ugh, Jongin much prefers reading the Frankl’s book his mother assigned to him earlier than doing this class outing. He doesn’t even get the chance to be with Sehun anyway, so what’s the use?  
  
“Jongin?” He looks up to see Sehun standing before him, a grin is plastered across his ridiculously charming face. Jongin doesn’t like it.  
  
“What?” Jongin asks in sharp tone.  
  
Sehun frowns a little bit but he extends his arm to Jongin. “Come on, walk with me.”  
  
“W-what?” Jongin stammers ( _way to go, Jongin!_ ), his cheeks flare up.  
  
“Hold me.” Sehun takes Jongin’s hand in his bigger one and holds it tightly. “Let’s go!”  
  
Jongin just nods dumbly and follows Sehun. Okay, maybe he likes Sehun again.  
  
“Come on, guys, walk faster!” Jinri shouts from where she’s walking beside Suji. The group already moves. Sehun pulls at Jongin’s hand and soon enough they catch up with the other kids. Jinri turns around to look at Sehun and says, “My mom packed me many gimbap, Hunnie, do you want me to share with you?”  
  
“Wow, thanks Jinri!”  
  
Jongin still hates Jinri.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Today in class Miss Kim, their math teacher, returns their last test. Jongin looks down at his paper, a 100 accompanied by a big smiley face are decorating it. Well, not really a surprise here given that everyone in his family has tendency to become a math whiz. The problem set was far too easy for him, anyway.  
  
“Sehun!” Jongin snaps his head at the name; it’s a natural reaction for him. “What did you get?” Suji asks the boy.  
  
Sehun beams and shows off his test sheet with pride.  _Unnecessary pride_ , Jongin thinks as he looks at the score scribbled on Sehun’s test. 75.  
  
75?! Jongin wants to curl and rolls away in a painful shame. His crush only got 75 for a simple math test. Jongin can’t bear with it. Jongin’s love has to be smart! Not necessarily as smart as him, but at least both of them will be able to interact in the same frequency.  
  
But then Jongin looks again at Sehun’s chuffed expression. Well—  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Jongin still can’t shake off his disappointment when he comes over to Kyungsoo’s house to play. Kyungsoo is in the middle of tutoring his hunky boyfriend, Kris. Jongin likes Kris-hyung because the guy is nice. He often treats him sweets and patbingsoo.  _But Kris-hyung is so dumb_ , Jongin thinks as he watches the highschooler trying to finish (hopelessly) the problem set his boyfriend gave to him.  
  
“How can you like him?” Jongin asks his hyung. “He’s so dumb.”  
  
Kyungsoo who is smiling at seeing Kris struggles over the equation sends him a pointed look. “Nobody calls my boyfriend dumb except me!”  
  
“Actually, nobody can call me dumb,” Kris cuts them before the exchange escalates into something big that involves a lot of scratching, kicking, and biting. Kris has been with them long enough to experience their cat fights.  
  
“Aw, Babe,” Kyungsoo coos at his boyfriend. “But you have to admit that you’re dumb or else you have finished the set like ten minutes ago.”  
  
“I told you that math isn’t my forte,” Kris retorts. “Can any of you help me? I’m stuck.”  
  
Jongin leans over to read the problems and snorts. “I can finish all of them in five minutes. Kyungsoo-hyung is being too generous to you.”  
  
“I’m here still wondering what kind of childhood you have experienced.”  
  
“A torturous one, of course,” Kyungsoo simpers. “Scoot over, let me show you the way.”  
  
Jongin observes as Kyungsoo rants—trying to make his boyfriend grasps the basic principle—while Kris is looking at him with such concentration. Maybe Jongin can tutor Sehun like Kyungsoo tutor Kris? That way he can spend more time with his crush. Jongin blushes at the prospect. He will definitely offer Sehun his help at the first chance he gets.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“There’s nothing to read here!” Jongin grumbles, his hand's skimming the book titles on their school library’s catalogue. “I don’t want to read fairy tale about princess and dragon.”  
  
Sehun has listened to Jongin’s whine for the last ten minutes patiently. “But it’s a good story, Jonginnie,” Sehun says. “Or do you want to read this book? Princess and The Pauper?”  
  
“I’m not a child.” Jongin pouts.  
  
“You are seven years old,” Sehun tells him. “Of course you are a child.”  
  
Jongin pouts even more. How dare Sehun—  
  
Just then Jaebeom appears next to them. “Sehun, the other kids and I are going to play soccer. Do you want to join?”  
  
“Ugh—” Sehun looks tempted by the offer but he quickly looks at Jongin’s red face and shakes his head. “No, I promised Jongin that I will play with him.”  
  
Jaebeom seems disappointed. “Okay, then.” He runs off.  
  
A few minutes later they are interrupted again when Soojung barges into the library. “Sehun!”  
  
Jongin glares at the bouncy girl but Soojung ignores him.  
  
“Sehun, Jinri’s mom baked those brownies that you love,” Soojung says. “Come join us!” She holds onto Sehun’s arm. Jongin shoots dagger at Soojung’s hands.  
  
“I’m sorry, Soojung.” Sehun gently pulls away from the girl. “But I promised Jongin that I will play with him.”  
  
Soojung whines and tries to persuade Sehun but he keeps declining. Finally Soojung leaves, but not before sending Jongin an annoyed look. Jongin responds it by sticking out his tongue at her when Sehun isn’t looking.  
  
Sehun is irritatingly popular among the kids in their school. Not only their classmates, but also their seniors. Jongin himself is known as a loner and grumpy kid who usually has his nose planted on the pages of thick books that he loves to read. He never fits in the crowd but Sehun magically takes a liking on him and often plays with him.  
  
“Let’s just play outside, Jongin,” Sehun asks him. “I’ll push you while you swing. You’d like that, right?”  
  
Jongin feels like bursting.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He needs a professional advice about love and who else a more competent person around him if not his Kyungsoo-hyung? Jongin runs straight from his ballet class all the way to Kyungsoo’s home.  
  
Kyungsoo’s house is quiet, of course. His uncle and aunt who both work as university professors must haven’t come home yet. But Jongin thinks he hears some noise from upstairs. He is sure that it’s coming from his hyung’s room. So he steps up the stairs.  
  
Jongin opens Kyungsoo’s room with so much force it rattles. Only to find his hyung in not so compromising position under Kris. They both look so messy, bodies press tightly against each other. Kris and Kyungsoo freeze when they see him—Kris’ hand disappears under the seam of Kyungsoo’s pants.  _Um_.  
  
“Should I get back later?” Jongin asks in tiny voice.  
  
“Jongin—” But Jongin already closes the door.  
  
He decides to wait in the kitchen for the couple to finish their ‘adult stuff’. Jongin isn’t really sure what it is but his mother often mentions it and Jongin just plays along like he understands.  
  
Kris goes down approximately an hour later to find Jongin sitting on the kitchen stool, with a plate of cookies and milk in front of him. Kris plants himself on the stool beside Jongin.  
  
“Where is Kyungsoo-hyung?” Jongin asks.  
  
“He’s, um, he’s tired so he’s sleeping right now,” Kris answers sheepishly.  
  
“Tired? What did the two of you do?”  
  
“Exercise.”  
  
“In bedroom?” Jongin frowns.  
  
“Yeah, uh—” Kris stammers. “Well, Jonginnie, if two people are in love with each other they—”  
  
Jongin waits for further explanation but Kris seems stuck. “Mom tells me that adult people in love are doing ‘adult stuff’. So it’s an exercise? No wonder Mom and Dad looks tired and sweating after they do the ‘adult stuff’.”  
  
“Ugh, yeah—”  
  
“Hyung, cookies?” Kris takes one from Jongin’s plate.  
  
“Why are you here, Jongin?” Kris asks. “Don’t you have homework?”  
  
Jongin purses his full lips. “I’m having a crisis, Hyung, homework isn’t my priority at the moment.”  
  
“What kind of crisis a seven year old kid can possibly have?” Kris guffaws.  
  
“Love crisis.”  
  
“Ah, I see.”  
  
“Hyung, why do you want to be with Kyungsoo-hyung?” Jongin suddenly asks.  
  
Kris looks taken aback by his question. “Why are you asking me this, Jongin?”  
  
Jongin just shrugs.  
  
“Jongin.” Kris keeps his gaze steady on the seven year old’s face.  
  
Finally, when he can’t contain it any longer, Jongin sighs. “It seems like Kyungsoo-hyung and I have been genetically programmed to be annoying, snobbish, and acting know-it-all. How can you like Kyungsoo-hyung?”  
  
“Does this have something to do with Sehun?” Kris laughs.  
  
Jongin blushes. “Just answer my question!”  
  
Kris thinks it over for a moment. “I think, I don’t have any intellectual reason to explain why I feel this way about him. I just want to be with him. I guess the same thing goes for Kyungsoo too. I mean, with me being a dumb jock and him being a school mathlete president. But our differences keep our relationship interesting.”  
  
Jongin tries to digest Kris’ words. He still  _doesn’t_  understand.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He swears that he didn’t mean it. But seeing Suji clung onto Sehun like a koala propelled Jongin’s fury. His hands kind of ‘slipped’ and he ‘accidentally’ shoved Suji down the swing. Okay, he probably meant it. But he only wanted to make a statement, that Sehun is his, that’s it. He certainly didn’t expect Suji to face plant onto the concrete, bleeding quiet badly.  
  
Miss Kwon called for his parents but they are currently attending a medical conference in Japan. And so it’s Angry Kyungsoo who comes, accompanied by Kris. The highschooler listens to Miss Kwon’s story attentively and even pats Jongin’s gently on his head. But Jongin knows that he has to prepare for his doom once Miss Kwon leaves.  
  
“Now that’s not the way you treat a girl, Jonginnie,” Kyungsoo chastises. “Remember that we share love, not hate! You have read Gandhi, for god’s sake!”  
  
Kyungsoo’s voice booming in the empty school hall. Everyone has already gone home.  
  
“I’m so disappointed at you!” Kyungsoo continues. “If Auntie knows this—”  
  
“That’s not the way you speak to a kid, Soo,” Kris protests. He crouches down in front of Jongin and reaches for a pack of worm gummy he is keeping in his pocket. “Jongin, if you want these gummies you have to promise not to repeat it again, okay?”  
  
Jongin rolls his eyes at Kris’ behavior. But he takes the gummies anyway. He  _loves_  gummies.  
  
Kyungsoo snorts at them but he gestures Jongin to get inside the car. Jongin knows that his hyung’s anger has subdued, even if just a little bit.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The surprise comes in the form of Oh Sehun who suddenly appears in front of his doorstep that night. Kyungsoo is the one who’s opening the door (Jongin’s parents had asked him to accompany Jongin while they are gone) and the older male shouts to call him, “Jongin, your boyfriend is here!”  
  
Jongin shoves Kyungsoo away despite his cousin's vehement protest and invites Sehun in but the taller kid refuses.  
  
“I can’t stay for long,” Sehun explains. “My parents and I are going to have dinner in my grandparents’ house.”  
  
“Oh.” Jongin is disappointed.  
  
“I just want to see you.”  
  
“ _Ugh._ ” Jongin replies cleverly.  
  
“Why did you do that to Suji?” Sehun asks. “I know you’re not that kind of person, Jonginnie. You’re usually very kind.”  
  
 _Sehun thinks he’s kind?_  “I’m just—” Jongin takes a deep breath. “I don’t like that she’s clinging on you. I don’t like that everyone seems to want to cling on you.”  
  
“Well, you’re allowed to cling onto me too.” Sehun laughs.  
  
“I—” Jongin stops. “If I acted cute, will you like me more?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Do you want me to act cute like Suji or Jinri?” Jongin is embarrassed beyond belief.  
  
“I like you just like you, Jongin.” Sehun takes Jongin’s hand.  
  
That’s the sweetest thing Jongin’s ever heard. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?” _Wow, where does this bravery come from?_  
  
“Boyfriend?”  
  
“I mean, we’ve holding hands!”  
  
Sehun eyes him confusedly. “Yes, we have?”  
  
“And you just said that you like me.”  
  
“I—did.”  
  
“Okay, so now you’re my boyfriend,” Jongin decides for them.  
  
“Ugh, okay?” Sehun still looks like he doesn’t understand the whole situation or what he’s signing up for when he says ‘okay’. But that’s fine; Jongin understands enough for both of them.


End file.
